Wakana Yamazaki (山崎 和佳奈 Yamazaki Wakana) (born March 21, 1965 in Yokohama) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator currently affiliated with Aoni Production. She is best known for her roles as Ran Mouri in Detective Conan, Atsuko "Akko" Kagami in the 1998 version of Himitsu no Akko-chan, Maria and Shoryuuki in Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Azumi Kojou in Azumi Mamma Mia, Meiko Akizuki in Marmalade Boy and Ayane in Dead or Alive. Yamazaki took over the role of Nami while her voice actress, Akemi Okamura, took a maternity leave.
She voices Saryuto, the female android rival/friend of the TwinBee Team and older sister of Shizu, along the various media that comprise the TwinBee series, having especial prominence along the TwinBee PARADISE subseries.
Career[]
Wakana Yamazaki was born in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and was raised in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from Doshisha Girls' Junior and Senior High School, Doshisha University Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Chemistry.
Yamazaki was impressed by the Takarazuka Revue (an opera group), which inspired her to play someday. She entered the drama club in middle and high school, and while attending college studying organic chemistry, she also enrolled in the theater company Sotobakomachi. The theme of her graduation thesis was "Reaction of Alkoxycarbonyltetracarbonyl Ferrate with Epoxides". After graduating from college, she attended Seijijuku Osaka School (5th grade) on the weekends and continued her studies as a voice actress, while at the same time she was an office worker. She retired from the company because her stage experience during her time at Sotobakomachi helped her improve her skills and graduated from school two years later, becoming a junior member of Aoni Production. By these times she moved to Tokyo. She made her tentative debut in a CD drama bit part for nearly half a year, but she then became a guide among with other part-time jobs while she continued her lessons for about a year.
After several jobs, such as sporadic narration and moderator, she became affiliated to Aoni Production. The following year, she officially made her debut as a voice actress at Tenjinrin Run in Kinkyu Hasshin Saver Kids, although she continued to take part-time jobs for a while. Nonetheless, her work as a voice actress gradually increased while continuing various undertakings. She soon became able to perform as both voice and stage actress, and in 1996 she made a name for herself in the role of Ran Mori in Detective Conan.
From Super Bikkuriman, broadcasted from May 1992 to 1995, Neighborhood Story and TV Asahi series. She is also active in narration and theatrical performances.
In 2015, Yamazaki formed the idol unit "Backdrops" along with Noriko Hidaka and Naoko Matsui, and made her debut with Don't Fly!
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Official profile page at Aoni Production (Japanese)
- Anime News Network
- Behind the Voice Actors
- IMDb
- Wikipedia